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BELARUSIAN KGB EXPELS RUSSIAN POLITICAL LEADER FROM MINSK... The
Belarusian KGB detained Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) leader Boris
Nemtsov on his arrival at a Minsk airport on 23 October and promptly
put him on a plane back to Moscow, Belarusian and Russian media
reported. Nemtsov, accompanied by State Duma Deputy Speaker Iryna
Khakamada (SPS), planned to attend a conference on Belarusian-Russian
integration in Minsk. Khakamada, although not detained, chose to
return to Moscow with Nemtsov. An unnamed KGB official told Interfax
that more than $50,000 and "literature aimed at destabilizing
Belarus" were confiscated from Nemtsov. "We received a phone call
today in the morning warning that Nemtsov is going to bring a large
sum of money in hard currency into the Republic of Belarus to support
his allies," KGB spokesman Fyodar Kotau commented. "I think there is
no need to name these allies. Everybody remembers the well-known
conversation about overthrowing the legitimately elected president of
our country by joint efforts," he added. Kotau was apparently
referring to the transcript of a telephone conversation between
Nemtsov and Belarusian opposition leader Anatol Lyabedzka --
published in Russia and Belarus in September -- in which the two
politicians seemed to discuss plans to oust President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka with assistance from the Kremlin (see "RFE/RL Poland,
Belarus, and Ukraine Report," 10 September 2002). JM

UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MULLS POLITICAL CRISIS... The Verkhovna Rada on
23 October discussed the current political situation in the country,
as demanded by the caucuses of Our Ukraine and the opposition Yuliya
Tymoshenko Bloc, Socialist Party, and Communist Party, UNIAN
reported. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko said Ukraine is closer
to a "dictatorship and a clannish political-system model" than it has
ever been, adding that lawmakers contribute to strengthening this
model with their "helplessness and passivity" in the parliament.
Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz said the opposition's main
goal is to change the current political system into a
parliamentary-presidential republic. Communist Party leader Petro
Symonenko announced that his party will continue organizing street
protests against what he called the "social genocide" perpetrated by
the current authorities. Lawmakers from the pro-presidential caucuses
that form a fragile parliamentary majority appealed to the opposition
to stop leveling accusations against the authorities and return to
normal legislative work. JM

...AND PREPARES TWO DRAFT RESOLUTIONS. The parliamentary hearing on
the political situation in Ukraine has resulted in two draft
resolutions on which the Verkhovna Rada is expected to vote on 24
October, UNIAN reported. The resolution proposed by the opposition
urges President Leonid Kuchma to step down and, in the event he
refuses to do so, calls on lawmakers to launch an impeachment
procedure against him and amend the constitution to make Ukraine a
parliamentary-presidential republic. The resolution proposed by the
nine caucuses that form the pro-Kuchma majority stresses that the
subsequent elections of the president and the Verkhovna Rada should
be held "according to democratic principles and within the terms
determined by the Ukrainian Constitution," according to UNIAN. JM

UKRAINIAN LAWMAKERS DECIDE TO DISCUSS FREEDOM OF SPEECH, CENSORSHIP.
The Verkhovna Rada on 24 October decided to hold a hearing on the
freedom of speech and censorship in Ukraine on 4 December, UNIAN
reported. The motion was supported by 294 of the 428 deputies
registered for the session. The parliamentary caucuses of Our Ukraine
and the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc did not participate in the voting,
having announced that they will resume voting only after the
parliament passes a resolution prohibiting deputies from voting for
absent colleagues. The opposition has formerly charged that majority
deputies resort to such tricks to ensure the minimum 226 votes needed
to pass bills and most resolutions in the Verkhovna Rada (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 27 September and 17 October 2002). JM

MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT CRITICIZES EC PRESIDENT'S REMARKS ON EU EXPANSION.
Meeting in Chisinau on 23 October with Finnish Ambassador to Moldova
Pekka Harttila and Danish Ambassador to Moldova Erik Bom, Moldovan
President Vladimir Voronin reaffirmed his country's wish to join the
European Union, Flux reported. He criticized European Commission
President Romano Prodi's recent statement that EU expansion will stop
at the borders of Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 17 October 2002). Bom said Prodi is not entitled to make
such declarations, as the European Council and not the European
Commission is to decide which countries to admit to the union. Bom
added that Denmark, which currently holds the EU's rotating
Presidency, is prepared to offer its full support for Moldova's
integration with the EU. ZsM